Grandpa's One-liners...

I've got several friends with young children that are always posting the funny things their little ones say on their blogs, and I have often wished the boys were younger and giving me material for my blog. Now I have my father saying funny things almost daily, so I'm going to begin posting the things he says & calling them Grandpa's One-liners.

Here are a few samples:

About a week after he moved into Jamestown, he had been over for a visit & I was taking him back to his apartment. As we walked into the common area where a lot of the residents come to watch TV he said, "I don't like it here, I don't belong here." My response was "Dad, you're always telling me how much you like it here." He then waved his arm around the room & said "But look, they're all old."

Suzy & her family were flying into town Friday morning & were going to drive up to Idaho to visit a favorite uncle, dad's brother Skip. They decided it would be nice to take dad with them, so Friday morning I picked him up at 8:00 & took him to meet them. As we were walking toward the door I was a few steps ahead of dad, when a lady that lives there passed between us & dad kind of bumped into her a little. After bumping into her dad said, "Excuse me darling" to her, then to me he said, "She's one of my girlfriends. I like her best...she doesn't talk too much."

Then, tonight as I was taking him back over to Jamestown the radio was on a country station. Kenny Chesney was singing his song Down the Road, about a boy that wants to marry the girl "down the road." One of the lines is about how the girls father wants to know if the boys makes enough to take his daughter down the road. After that line dad said, "heck, how much money do you need to go down the road...that's dumb"

Keeping Promises...

In September of 2005 my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer & a month later got pneumonia, which sped the dying process, but was a much gentler death. As mom’s body was shutting down on her, we could tell she was fighting to hang on & felt that it was because she was worried about our father, who has dementia. Independently & unknown to each other, my sister Suzy & I each went in to let our mom know that she did not need to worry about our dad, because we would take care of him.

Suzy does not work outside of her home & had an extra bedroom, so the plan was for dad to live with Suzy & her family. Suzy & her family were wonderful! They welcomed dad into their home with open arms. Then about a year ago, Suzy began having health problems due to the stress of caring for dad, so he moved into my brother Norman’s home. When dad moved in with Norman & Toni we all knew it was going to be temporary, because as dad’s dementia progressed he would need more skilled care. We began gathering information on some facilities in California that were centrally located between Suzy & Norman, but none of them quite met dad’s needs.

Then one Sunday as Tanner was speaking in the Sacrament meeting of a retirement home in our ward boundaries it dawned on me…“dad should move to Utah.” It hit me that if dad were living here in Utah, he would be able to attend Sacrament meeting & the staff at the facility would be respectful of his religious beliefs & customs. I began checking into assisted living care facilities & found Courtyard at Jamestown. They have an Enhanced Care unit, which is a secure section for patients with memory loss. When Eli & I toured the facility, we knew it was perfect! It met all dad’s needs…they even have an outside courtyard where dad can pull weeds!

In April I flew down to San Diego on a Thursday & the next morning Suzy & I drove dad up to Utah with all his belongings. On Saturday we went to Jamestown to set up dad’s room with all his furniture & photos, so that Monday when he arrived it would all be familiar. As we were putting his stuff away I have to admit, there were moments of guilt…I had promised my mother that I would help to take care of dad! But now that dad has been at Jamestown for almost two full months, I no longer have guilt. Dad has thrived at Jamestown! They have daily activities such as cooking classes, music appreciation and exercises, as well as scenic bus rides three times a week. He even went to a petting zoo last week. He is also eating regularly & has even gained some weight back.

From the moment the idea came to me, I have felt it was the right move & as plans have just fallen into place for dad to be able come to Jamestown it has been reaffirmed to me that this is the right decision for dad. So I guess that sometimes keeping the promises we’ve made means doing things differently than we had planned.

Round-abouts...Wanna Love 'em, Gotta Hate 'em!

I have actually been formulating this post in my mind for quite a while now...and was re-inspired to finally get it written when my niece-in-law Hannah acknowledged her frustrations with them today on her Facebook status.

The city planners in Provo & Orem love their roundabouts! In the past five years most of the really busy 4-way stops in these two cities have been converted to round-abouts. The whole concept behind them is actually really good & they are very convenient...when used properly. That's the "gotta hate 'em" part of the equation...most drivers don't use them properly. On my daily commute, I have to drive through at least two round-abouts and depending on the route I take may need to use up to five...just to get to 8 miles from my house to UVU!

The whole concept of the round-about is to keep traffic moving, so there is nothing more frustrating then to be driving along, enjoying my morning ride & come up to an idiot driver stopped at a round-about waiting for all the cars to pass! It's not a four-way stop any more...the idea is to safely merge into the flow of traffic. The other side of the frustration is that there are those other idiot-drivers that insist on speeding up when they see someone approaching the round-about so that they won't have to let them in! UG! And I'm not so sure it's a "Utah driver" thing either...I've noticed that the round-abouts with the most problems are located in areas highly populated by BYU & UVU students driving cars from out of state & I've also been the passenger in a car driven by someone visiting from another state & had them ask me "what do I do?" when they get to the round-about.

I'm not quite sure what the solution is...it's kind of like the "carpool" lane, which is a whole other frustration! Some people get it & some people don't, & those of us that do will just have to continue to tolerate the idiot-drivers that will never get it!